Memories and Encounters
by Writing1sLife
Summary: A tale of an old classic. Maybe one day it shall return to enchant us all again with all of its mystery.
1. Chapter 1

"Beginnings"

Genesis 1 – 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

. . . . .

Genesis2 – 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. 4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. 6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. 11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. 13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. 14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. 15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

. . . . .

Genesis 3 – 1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. 20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. 21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: 23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

. . . . . . .

This was how the Earth came into being. God spoke and it was. Nothing like it has ever occurred since for only God ever had such power and the knowledge and understanding of both what is good and evil clouds the mind of man. Man cannot create like his creator for he is a flawed being and this drives him to do many things: to explore, to discover, to pursue; an almost never-ending search for truth. Man is a driven being; one who is forever pushing the boundaries of what he does and does not know. This is one such tale of the pursuit for that which cannot be truly explained nor understood for it is beyond the feeble limited mind of man to comprehend it even as he tries to do so.


	2. Chapter 2

"It's important?"

The time was the past. But to some things in this world, time has no meaning. Though they live, they do not comprehend time as we do nor do they try to. The location was some new piece of land formed by the incredible event brought down to destroy the Earth called the Flood. On the smooth, glistening, wet sand, something appeared in the moonlight that seemed out of place. It was a shape imprinted into the sand that resembled a foot like that of a man and yet no living man had, as of yet, set foot on this beach since the great event. A trail of them lead from the water on to the beach headed in towards the interior of the land, and there was no one there to see whatever had come out of the water.

. . . . . . .

He traveled all over the world looking for things in the earth. That was his interest and trade for Carl Maia was a geologist, and he would forever be that until the day that he died for there were answers to riddles there and he longed to uncover all that he could. He had long ago reached the unalterable belief that the record of much of life, if not all of it, was written in the earth and the land. The planet itself was a massive record of life just waiting to be read in full and Carl Maia had made it his life mission to uncover all of it.

And thus it was, in the headwaters of the Amazon, that he found himself still trying to reach as far into the past as he could successfully. It did not get that much more difficult than this. The ground was virtually hidden from site by vegetation and the trees took up what the plants themselves did not cover and, of course, men were chopping the whole place down faster than it could grow and this all came together to make things very complicated and difficult. Because of what was going on, the terrain kept changing and there was no telling what was obliterated in the process. At the same time, one had to remember that the ground was unstable and forever in a state of disarray, so the trick was getting there before something happened.

Hard to believe that tracking an earthquake or tornado could actually be easier than this, but he had never liked something if there was not some challenge. A challenge made life worthwhile in the life of Carl Maia. And he never went anywhere without his two friends Luis and Thomas. They helped him look for anything unusual, helped account for transportation and supplies, and chiefly provided much enjoyed companionship. He found it very difficult to go anywhere without the two men for they were family and anchors for they helped him keep from falling as they did not have their heads to close to the earth as he did.

They had been there a number of days, when the peace that reigned in the jungle, despite the sounds of wildlife, was shattered by Luis. Thomas had been out searching for fruit when he heard his friend yelling for him. He ran as fast he could towards the sound. He raced past the tent towards where his friend was staring in horror on the ground towards a cliff face. Carl came from the tent with his camera and equipment to try and quickly spot what his friend had been startled by.

"Please," he asked of one of the other two men who had accompanied him with his friends as he reached out tentatively to touch the fascinating thing as people were want to do in order to confirm if something was actually a part of reality. The man stepped aside upon spotting the camera which Carl promptly focused upon the object which was made horrifying both by appearance and the fact that it stretched _out_ from the cliff face. A most unnatural sight. It looked like some horrific hand, but it was impossible to determine anything right off the bat.

"Wha-What that is Dr. Maia?" This came from Luis with a hint of trembling.

"I do not know Luis," was the reply as Maia with practiced precision primed the camera. "I have never borne witness to a sight such as this before in my whole life."

"It's important then?" Luis could not see how such a thing was important given its appearance, but then he did not understand or see the world as the doctor did, so he did not question his judgement too thoroughly.

"I believe that it is; very, _very_ important." He snapped a picture and readied the camera again. "We shall take just one more picture and then dig it out." He did precisely as he said trading the camera for a pickaxe which Luis passed to him. The man delicately set to work with experience honed by years of study in academics and long labor in the field to retrieve valuable samples intact so as to get the best information.

The "hand" came loose relatively easily, much to the relief of Carl, for he did not desire to have to struggle for hours on end. He held it in his hands and the men crowded around to get a better look. For a minute all were silent before Maia spoke with feverish joy and glowing eyes. "Luis, I am going to Marajo Bay. I am going straight to the institute. You two men are to remain here in the camp and keep this area free of disturbance. I am clear yes?"

Both Thomas and Luis nodded though it was Luis who asked the question on both minds. "Will you be gone for very long?"

"Just long enough to find out precisely what this is. And get help in digging out the rest of the skeleton that is surely buried somewhere in this very spot." He walked back to tent cradling his prize and gazing at it in wonder. "I want a man to remain in the camp at all times," he instructed, one foot positioned across the threshold and through the flap of the tent. "Luis, I am ultimately leaving you in charge."

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, but that was ultimately a blessing to the men. Carl in particular felt this most, for he could hardly wait to depart and seek answers to the many riddles and questions plaguing his mind. Nobody noticed anything…yet something noticed them.


	3. Chapter 3

Misunderstood

Life went on just like normal, though it had been several days since Carl had left with his find to the Institute. Supplies were used for food, and if they wished for something different, the men knew how to hunt. There were cards to play, and of course the sounds of the Amazon to listen to. They took turns going out to collect wood for the fire and anything else they might desire.

Life went on in a simple fashion with absolutely no disturbances to the camp site or the cliff face Carl had removed the "hand" from. It was night now; the time when certain creatures came out and stalked through the trees, or on the ground amongst the vegetation and earth. Some creatures even flew when the sun set, but nothing approached the camp. The men paid it no mind. Thomas was lying shirtless on his cot, while Luis cleaned up the machetes and rifles, before beginning to prepare for bed himself.

Outside, the water at the bank stirred, ripples appearing in the moonlight. In the light of the moon, the liquid almost had a black appearance; an appearance that fitted the dripping object that emerged: a hand. But no human hand had the same appearance as the skeletal remains dug up by Carl Maia a week back. It emerged onto the bank and began to take sticky, dripping, wet steps towards the object of its curiosity: the tent with the light emanating from it.

Luis had just finished with his final task for the night and was about to at last give in to the desire for bed. A noise stopped him. Something was grunting or making some alien noise. An animal? What in the world would make such a noise that would make his blood freeze and his heart skip a beat?

In the dim light of the lantern, a horrific object poked through the opening in the tent flaps probing about before settling on the partially open right flap. The light glistened and caught on what looked like…_claws_.

"Tho-Thomas…" Luis' voice was alien to his own ears so great was his terror. Thomas jolted upright and froze at the sight of the appendage that terrified his companion. Luis desperately grabbed the lamp and threw it. The thing gave an angry howl at the thrown object, thrust fully into the tent. Despite the absence of the light, Luis could see it fully and gasped. "No." It came closer. "No…" then he screamed as the thing shrieked and grabbed him by the face.

The tent shook viciously as Thomas was hurled from his bunk to the other side of the tent. The thing menacingly advanced towards the man with clear intent. His frantic hands found a machete and he swung it with desperate strength. His hand was caught in a grip of unbelievable strength, then he was violently yanked down on to the ground and pinned. He fought in the dark with all his might, but his adversary was stronger than his muscles and strength honed by physical labor.

Shrieks, screams, and grunts emanated from the shaking tent. After a time, there was silence. Throughout the rest of the night, silence reigned. The tent was not approached by anything, not even in broad daylight. Not that day, or any day after.


	4. Chapter 4

"One word: Why?"

As his hand moved, writing flowed freely on to paper from pen. His hand was old and withered compared to the smoothness of his flesh at birth. His hand did not shake surprisingly. The horror of what he was describing, and his age, by all rights, should be interfering with his ability to properly write and remember. There were times where he wished that he could forget. Why was it that nightmares faded so slowly compared to beautiful dreams? Maybe it was because the sin that pervaded this world was never-ending in its pursuit. His name was Carl Maia, and he was writing his own memory on to paper; a memory that was black and sad indeed.

_Why?_ The pen continued to write. _Why did I go down to the Amazon? I went because I was seeking knowledge that lay buried in the earth. But what I did not expect to find was that horrific appendage embedded in the cliff. It resembled a hand but what kind of a hand possessed such an inhuman appearance? I took photographs and then removed it from the cliff. Burdened with a prize like none that I had ever known, I made ready that very evening to head off to the institute of Marajo Bay. My sole purpose for my hasty departure was the acquiring of an expedition and crew to help me dig up the rest of the remains._

_I would gain much intrigue and attention from an old student of mine and his boss. Dr. David Reed was an Ichthyologist and was looking towards the future with promise of marriage and a family in due time. He looked to the future with hope, for science and himself; his superior in the institute, Mark Williams, was something of a different matter. He looked to the future with the ideas of attention and wealth. He was a single man, and this created a lack or void within him as I look back now. Perhaps here, in the institute itself, began a descent into blackened and uncertain waters. I will never truly know. Reed was very much interested in the potential of finding something that would advance the cause of science in discovering more about our world; Williams was thinking only of the fame and fortune that could result from an incredible find that no-one knew of apart from him._

_Our return was something of a bitter one, unlike the original beginning which was filled with hope among many mixed emotions. The one who was most bitter of us was Williams, who thought of nothing but success, while the rest understood we were taking a chance, yet that was part of what discovery was. Our arrival was greeted with silence most disturbing. My return did not get answered by the two men I left in the camp Luis and Thomas. Ultimately, to my horror, they had been killed. The tent was in a state of utter disarray with objects smashed and destroyed, slashed fabric, and two bodies that had been grievously wounded unto death in an exceedingly violent manner. It resembled the attack of an animal with dangerously sharp claws. I knew not what could cause this, but I could not bear to look but for so long, for the nature of their death was too terrible to imagine in my mind._

_We quietly did our best to put the incident out of our minds and set to work but unveiled nothing from the cliffside. Then I remembered that my boys told me that there was a lagoon at the end of the tributary we had camped at. We journeyed to the end of the water and found that, true against all odds, the lagoon existed. What we never imagined was that something followed us there._

_It eluded our best attempts to even see it and killed one of the shipmates that belonged on the vessel. Ultimately, even before this to be precise, events began to reveal to us that not all was as it appeared and around the same time, Reed and Williams began to butt heads. When we finally did manage to catch a glimpse of the source of our nightmares and fears, Williams pursued a far more aggressive agenda, while Reed fought with all his might to bring it back alive. Then they began to argue about course to take from there. Despite successfully capturing the strange being, another man died before we could secure it. Then, while we were absent from the boat, our "prisoner" escaped and viciously attacked Dr. Thompson as he attempted to drive it away. It surely would have killed him had Kay Collins not desperately thrown an oil-filled lamp at it, setting it ablaze and making it desperately jump into the water to put out the flames._

_We became victims of our own ship. The water itself held unknown terror for us, and even in the light of day, we never felt safe. How could we? Everything that held us together began to unravel. The conflict between Reed and Williams grew so heated as to threaten to explode into full-blown physical violence. Dr. Thompson would live despite his injuries if he managed to pull through, but his handsome face would be forever ruined. Kay was like a flower that was wilted before a blast of cold air. Mark had ultimately grown cold and calculating, indifferent to anything except the object of his agenda. I was no longer certain that I wanted anything to do with this place. All I wished was to leave. As for Lucas our captain, he remained an outside presence that acted only when he was included. Personally, I believe he was willing to depart with all the speed he had._

_Ultimately harsh words were exchanged by the two men, two champions of different beliefs and ways of life that would not, or could not, see eye to eye. David was for departing the place with all speed that we possessed. Mark was incredulous at the very mention of the idea. To depart without what we came for? Yet as David was quick to point out, we never came to this place to struggle against a being whose nature defied our understanding; we were scientists who had come seeking answers to a riddle. Later on we could come back prepared for something like what lived in this place, and that was indeed most reasonable logic and thought to me. Mark spoke out quite vehemently against it and said that none of us would leave until we had our prize. David promptly spoke him down and told Lucas our captain to get us ready for departure._

_Mark was prepared to physically coerce the captain into following only his word but was stopped quite calmly by the captain in a simple fashion. With a smile, Lucas drew a knife and gently put it point first under Mark's chin and asked if he wished to say anything else. To this, Mark had truly no choice but to relent as it was obvious that not one single shred of authority he might possess would be recognized. He was left standing there realizing that no one would follow, obey, or listen to him and that all were truly against him. The return trip was uneventful. Williams stayed away from all of us with an angry, bitter scowl the whole way. David and Kay remained together, having an expression akin to hope, faint, but still there nonetheless in their eyes. All, it was obvious apart from Mark, would not feel safe until we had departed the jungle entirely._

_Just as we got near the entrance of the lagoon, I noticed from my vantage point at the bow a great dam placed right in front of our only exit. We were fortunate the boat did not wreck itself, but we were completely trapped, unable to leave unless it was removed. This drove Mark to insist that we remain and get the evidence of what had happened, otherwise no-one would believe anything that we said. This in all truth was because Mark Williams was a man who would accept nothing less that total success. David Reed was more concerned with our lives over the belief of other people. Ultimately this marked the start of terrorization by our jailer, for no sooner had Lucas ascertained that no damage had been inflicted to the vessel than one of the life boats was destroyed. Uselessly I shot at it, but nonetheless it fled, its objective complete for the moment. We were trapped, helpless, hopeless, and with its eyes always on us, there was no chance of escape._

_We tried in vain to remove the obstacle in our way. Whether by human error, or interference from the being, the winch lost its grip on the massive load of debris and we remained prisoners. Reed concluded that he had no choice but to go into the water and ultimately restore the cable around the debris. Williams was quite insistent, eager even, on helping, but I would learn later that it was only to continue to push his cause forward. The two men came to blows and this led to all respect or restraint between them falling apart with Williams throwing the first punch; only for a very determined Reed to retaliate with a stunning series of blows. I do not believe that what hurt was the physical blow, but the knowledge that Reed had the courage and the drive to stand up to him without any hesitation._

_David proceeded as intended without Mark, only for Mark to ironically save him when the creature noticed what David was trying to do and Williams shot at it with a spear gun driving it away. Williams would chase after it and manage to shoot the creature, but it got away. The only thing that stopped him was running out of air and David. When they resurfaced, the two immediately were all but at each other's throats with Reed, supported by us, to trying to reason with Mark. He was all for heading out as soon as the tanks were full again, but he was gunned down by our verbal rejection. He was left to stalk way from us with great anger. We were ready to depart but David was unsure if the cable was secure and the light had begun to fade. David would not dare attempt anything until the light had returned to us, plus he feared that Mark was becoming quite paranoid, obsessed to the point of being dangerous even._

_We agreed on this, Kay bitterly, and I went down to lock him in his own cabin. I found that he was not there, nor had been idle while we discussed what to do. No, but he had promptly returned to the storage room and while we were in horror over the potential of his actions we heard a splash. Despite the many dangers of his actions, he had returned to the water and was going to hunt it alone. David would not go after him with the light of day gone._

_It was another long night for us all. Kay tried to rest in the cabin but came back on to the deck to remain close to David. Lucas and I armed ourselves with the only rifles available and spent our time attempting to pierce the darkness with our naked eyes, but the only thing to see was inky, solid-black water and the shore with its trees which had taken on nightmarish appearance for the moon had completely vanished. That night was easily the quietest and most horrific night ever for there was not a sound. The animals had fallen silent; even the wind it seemed was no longer active. I must have fallen asleep, along with the others, for the next thing I knew was that I heard a scream: Kay._

_She was in David's arms, completely in a dead faint, and she was deathly white. I had never heard a cry of such anguish and horror in my life. David handed her to me and dove over the side to swim the source of all our anguished gazes. The only reason we found him was the fish; they had been drawn to the place because the scent of blood permeated the water. Despite the danger, David refused to leave him and brought him back onboard. The condition was horrific. He had not just been attacked, he had been cruelly slaughtered. One look said everything to me. Now I knew the fate of my boys. They had been killed by the very same being that killed Mark Williams._

_His spear gun was missing; the air tank had been viciously scarred by claws and impact against rocks, yet it had not been ruptured. His body bore cruel cuts made by claws half an inch long, and the face mask was missing along with a cruel scar over one eye; but what had ultimately killed him was the air hose being savagely torn in two. He had been drowned, with his adversary refusing to give him the slightest shred of mercy. One can only guess what his final thoughts or moments were like. I can remember the horror and shock we all shared that one night when it first rose up out of the water, caught in the light of the one powerful spotlight on board the ship. It was terrifying in appearance and oh, but how it howled and snarled at the light, before sinking out of sight into the black water that one night all of us were gathered together._

_The only reason we had found his body was because the air tank had brought him back to the surface, and the currents had carried him back to the shore where he had finally come to rest. Never until now did I realize the true cost of ambition stroked to a fever pitch. Mark Williams died in the name of his ambitions to science and his utter need to be recognized. His attraction and jealousy of what David and Kay possessed may have also been a driving force, as I would later learn that Mark too longed for Kay's attention, but any answers we might have been given died with him. David himself swore and cursed most bitterly over the tragedy. He and Mark may have clashed at times, but never did he want the man to die so pointlessly._

_That day was the worst sunrise ever and we were now but four, though in truth only three for Kay could not truly act in her defense. Surprisingly, the being had not tried to kill her as one might have thought when it had a chance. What might have happened ultimately remained unknown for it had succumbed at last to the drugs we had laced the water with some time before the incident. Ultimately, David came up with a risky plan that managed to work; though it was not as effective as we thought for all too quickly the being came back and promptly dove off the boat with Kay in its clutches. We gave pursuit to its home, a cavern we had found, and David would have perished had Lucas and I not arrived rifles in hand._

_David had just been grabbed by it and it would surely have killed him by dashing him against the cave walls, except that it was very much vulnerable to bullets. In the end, we must have shot it a dozen times and only after the twelfth shot did it finally stop trying to attack us and instead tried to leave, with David telling us to let it go. It stumbled off back towards the water bleeding profusely from the numerous wounds we had inflicted on it. I aimed down the sights to strike it straight in the head, but David calmly pushed the barrel down with a simple no._

_To this day I do not entirely understand his reasoning, but I believe that it may have something to do with the idea of humanity. It finally reached the water and disappeared beneath. It never surfaced again. I asked David if he wanted to retrieve it and he simply said he wanted to go home. David's words cut through the haze over my mind and I realized that the prize was not worth all that we had lost and that I was caught up in the heat of chase, the heat of the moment. I now understood what it meant to have clouded judgement. But I also understood, in a sense, what it meant to throw everything away for one goal at all costs without any regret. Nothing, in all of the world, is worth that._

_One question that should be asked more: "Why?" and furthermore, "When is enough, enough?" Is there a line and just how far and for how long? I never looked at the water the same ever again. For some reason, I always felt as though something was watching me. David's dark handsome hair had turned white completely by the time he was forty. No one knew the true cause save him. He and Kay were married and happy, yet they never were quite the same after all that happened and focused their time upon trying to be together as often as they could along with me. We all quickly realized that life is short and precious. We never told anyone as to what happened. How could we? This was something none needed to know about. Besides, at least for my part, it was impossible to recall what it was that we encountered._


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Notes

The Creature from the Black Lagoon was my first known monster. The first thing I ever knew of it was a toy from Jack in the Box, and then I was introduced to the movie. At only eight years old I was captivated by the water and the mysterious nature and wonder it held. The film is so memorable for unlike other monsters, the Creature is a silent character defined by its actions.

It maintains its mysterious nature, while providing some revelation unto the nature of man by simply existing. Unlike some movies, the opening speaks of God and how he created the Earth. The creature itself is not evil, but rather is misunderstood and reacts just like the people around it with confusion and violence. It partially acts in protection of its home when it perceives a threat, yet it is also curious. At times it reacts to the choices made by others, such as killing two men when they attack it out of fear, while it is angered by the choice of throwing a lantern at it. Furthermore, it usually runs rather than simply attack someone outright, unless it is ambushing them. It acts like an animal reacting to a perceived threat, yet it also has reasoning in many ways like apes in that the creature displays learning capabilities and an inquisitive nature.

I wished to make a story to revive it, but then began to realize that trying to revive the Black Lagoon completely would be a mistake and dishonor the legacy. Instead, the best of course of action would be to connect the past with the present by providing backstory that indicates that there was a "Black Lagoon" but what exactly occurred and what was found there is lost to an extent. From there, I could proceed to revive the Creature, albeit in the ocean depths, by bringing about a new kind of being without trying to resurrect the spirit of the original. With this, I could also continue the story with certain characters linked to those of the first film, while gaining the ability to have more freedom to create a new story. I hope to do so someday, but right now this short story is the closest I can get. I would require a team to help me make the kind of story that would achieve what I long to, and evoke the spirit of what the original film possessed. If I would most certainly take one thing from this story into the new creature from the depths, it would be a backstory detailing the original Black Lagoon to an extent while still keeping it a mystery.


End file.
